If anyone is wondering why I haven't been blogging lately, I have been called as the New Primary President for a 2 Ward Primary. For those of you who don't know what that means, I am in charge of organizing the children ages 18mo - 12 years old for 2 congregations (with 2 counselors and a secretary). With 2 hours of Sunday instruction we're responsible for, weekly cubscouts, Activity Day Girls 2x a month, Quarterly Training of teachers, Quarterly Activities for the whole primary outside of church, Ward Council and a few additional yearly meetings, my schedule is filling up much faster than I am used to.
I'm not complaining; my schedule was fairly bare to begin with and I'm actually enjoying and thrilled to have the chance to serve and get to know the amazing kids in our wards. I have been VERY impressed by the reverence of the children despite the young ages and large class sizes. I've also been very impressed by the older children's dilligence in learning. Our 11 year olds are well read, our 5 year olds remembered my lesson from last week, and our class of 15 4-year-olds are extremely attentive.
I've been very blessed. I couldn't do it without my counselors (and Secretary).
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
October 12-17
I know it has been a while since I posted. We have been keeping pretty busy with our many library trips and art projects.
She also decided it would be fun to draw on the wall with a pen that Friday (Oct 16). The next morning I was reading on of my library books "First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos" by MaryAnn Kohl, and she mentioned that giving the child a vertical place to draw will help draw attention away from the wall. So, I made an easel by folding a box so it has three main sides instead of four (as described in the library book). 
Dani loved making designs on her easel and has colored a lot on it since. However, a couple days ago, she came to me distraught that she made a mess because she decided to draw on the "pi-board" (aka keyboard, this is her mix between piano, and keyboard). Luckily the pencil erased quite easily.
Below is a few details of the week to describe Dani's development, probably not interesting to most readers, but it will be of interest to grandparents, and my memory book which are the main reasons for this blog.
A couple weeks ago (~Oct 16th) Dani helped me do a leaf family by picking out which leaves to use. The book I read ("Look What I Did With A Leaf") told us not to use glue sticks, but that is all we had. As you can see, one of the leaves on the sun has fallen off as a result. 
Dani loved making designs on her easel and has colored a lot on it since. However, a couple days ago, she came to me distraught that she made a mess because she decided to draw on the "pi-board" (aka keyboard, this is her mix between piano, and keyboard). Luckily the pencil erased quite easily.Below is a few details of the week to describe Dani's development, probably not interesting to most readers, but it will be of interest to grandparents, and my memory book which are the main reasons for this blog.
- The week of October 12th, we borrowed the book "Chicken Little" by Ed Emberly from the library. Dani thought this book was hysterical and laughed after talking about it and said "funny book". She still talks about the names in the book and how the fox tricked the birds.
- Dani's favorite phrase that week was "some too". She now LOVES juice like her Daddy and begs for everything he has when he gets home from work.
- That week, Dani also started singing "Rubber Ducky", though she doesn't know all the words, or the tune and generally just repeats "Rubber, rubber, rubber... Ducky".
- Thursday (Oct 15th) Dani decided she wanted to call Nana. She had practiced on her play phones by picking them up and emphatically saying "Hi! Nana?". She talked to Nana for over 30 minutes and threw a tantrum when I had to take the phone away. Nana is very patient with a little one who doesn't say much but likes being on the phone.
- Dani is now recognizing where we live and where Dad works.
- At our play group, we made a paper Jack-O-Lantern and did Rhythm activities. Dani really enjoys seeing others teach lessons (other than me).
- This week Super Why became available on Netflix and Dani became obsessed with the Giant in Jack and the Bean Stalk. When she first said "giant", we could not figure out what she was talking about, it sounded like dayants (dance with a 'y' in the middle). In this story, the giant is tired and needs a bed. Dani gets really frustrated with the "super readers" when they continue to try the wrong answers first to help the giant. I now explain to her when she is throwing a tantrum like the giant that this tantrum often means her body is tired and needs to go to bed. This actually has helped when it is bedtime or nap time.
How are you?
After reading a ladybug counting book, and talking about numbers, I mentioned to Dani that she was 1-year-old. Shortly after that I noticed her spacing out and asked "How are you?". She replied "old".
THANKS JAKE!!!!
While we are being hit by the worst winter storm I have ever seen (though, that doesn't say much since I'm not originally from here), our heater started acting up. 
Everytime the heater turned on yesterday, I momentarily noticed a natural gas smell. Then this morning I noticed that the heater was not working. Trent went out to see what the problem was and it just would not ignite when it should. After we called repair shops to see what it would cost for them to look at it, and called the gas company to make sure we didn't have a leak, we called my brother. Jake was able to explain all the parts of our furnace to Trent so that we could figure out what was likely happening. Just a few minutes on the phone with Jake and we are able to start the heater again and we have a "differential diagnosis" of the problem. We also realized that it is cheaper to fly Jake out here to visit and fix our heater than it would be to pay a technician to just look at it. I'm so lucky to have a handy brother! Thanks!
Everytime the heater turned on yesterday, I momentarily noticed a natural gas smell. Then this morning I noticed that the heater was not working. Trent went out to see what the problem was and it just would not ignite when it should. After we called repair shops to see what it would cost for them to look at it, and called the gas company to make sure we didn't have a leak, we called my brother. Jake was able to explain all the parts of our furnace to Trent so that we could figure out what was likely happening. Just a few minutes on the phone with Jake and we are able to start the heater again and we have a "differential diagnosis" of the problem. We also realized that it is cheaper to fly Jake out here to visit and fix our heater than it would be to pay a technician to just look at it. I'm so lucky to have a handy brother! Thanks!Monday, October 12, 2009
Building Blocks
Sunday morning Daniella made this "house" all by herself. I didn't touch it at all. I was pretty amazed by the height and balance she was able to create. 
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Weekly Update
Last Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed general conference. I felt spiritually uplifted from listening to the talks. I especially liked the routine described by President Monson of a father who asked his children at the end of the day what they had done to help someone else that day. I think it would be fun to add that to our routine as well.
Dani has been trying to help me and Trent lately. She helps clean her room and load the dishwasher. She puts her toys away when asked. At times, she will even clean up the water she spilled without being asked.
Tuesday we went to the pediatrician for Dani's late 18 month appointment. When the doctor came in she handed Dani a book from the Reach Out and Read program and Dani looked at it with excitement and said "Clifford!". The book is "Clifford Barks". The doctor was surprised by this response and asked her what color Clifford is. Dani thought about it for a minute and replied "red". Dani does not know her colors yet, but she knows Clifford is "the big red dog", so it was an easy question. Obviously, the pediatrician was not worried about her development after a few minutes of visiting.
Dani may know her letters, but she does not know shapes yet (all circles are not called "circles", but are called 'O's). She is also learning her colors, but is still somewhat confused about color. We were reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" by Bill Martin Jr. and Dani was saying "brown bear!", so I asked her what color brown bear was. She responded quite quickly, "green". Everything else in that book is also green according to Dani.
Today as the sacrament was being passed Dani opened my scriptures and was telling me what colors she thought the scriptures were highlighted in. . . "green, purple, red". . . Then she proceeded to count starting at "13, 14, 15". She has been able to count to 13 for about a month now, but does not always use one to one correspondence. She will also occasionally forget a number or two, or decide that 4 needs to return later on in the sequence. Then she decided that her sacrament cup was a "cupcake".
Wednesday we went on a hike in the mountains. See other post. We will definitely go back some day.
Thursday it was my turn to lead our preschool. So we read Leaf Man and made our own leaf people and animals. We woke up around 5:45 so we could take Trent to work. After taking him to work we grabbed some leaves to play with in a small group. It was sprinkling and snowing as I collected the leaves and we had to towel dry some of them so it wasn't mush by the time it reached the preschool/play group. Dani was excited to hear that it was snowing because she wanted to make a snow man, but it didn't stick so that will have to wait until later. By the time we finally made it to the play group, Dani was exhausted and fussy. She did not want to leave me to see the other groups and she was not interested in making any leaf people. The activity went as well as could be expected with well over 20 kids present of varying age levels. Luckily the parents stay and help.
Friday we watched Curious George and ate popcorn. Dani enjoyed watching George play peekaboo. She talked about the monkey all and popcorn all night.
Dani absolutely LOVES this set and acting it out with the caterpillar eating through each of the foods. It will make it easier when she is able to put it on her own arm, but for now it's at least very entertaining on Mom's arm.
The person who designed the pattern for this puppet set is in my Ward, but she asked that we not use the pattern for profit. She has her own etsy page and sells these herself. Honestly, it's too much work for me to do this for profit, but it would be fun for a Christmas gift! The butterfly was not exactly patterned after hers. I designed the decorations on the butterfly's wings myself. I also made a few minor changes to the watermelon, strawberry, and salami.
Dani has been trying to help me and Trent lately. She helps clean her room and load the dishwasher. She puts her toys away when asked. At times, she will even clean up the water she spilled without being asked.
Tuesday we went to the pediatrician for Dani's late 18 month appointment. When the doctor came in she handed Dani a book from the Reach Out and Read program and Dani looked at it with excitement and said "Clifford!". The book is "Clifford Barks". The doctor was surprised by this response and asked her what color Clifford is. Dani thought about it for a minute and replied "red". Dani does not know her colors yet, but she knows Clifford is "the big red dog", so it was an easy question. Obviously, the pediatrician was not worried about her development after a few minutes of visiting.
Dani may know her letters, but she does not know shapes yet (all circles are not called "circles", but are called 'O's). She is also learning her colors, but is still somewhat confused about color. We were reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" by Bill Martin Jr. and Dani was saying "brown bear!", so I asked her what color brown bear was. She responded quite quickly, "green". Everything else in that book is also green according to Dani.
Today as the sacrament was being passed Dani opened my scriptures and was telling me what colors she thought the scriptures were highlighted in. . . "green, purple, red". . . Then she proceeded to count starting at "13, 14, 15". She has been able to count to 13 for about a month now, but does not always use one to one correspondence. She will also occasionally forget a number or two, or decide that 4 needs to return later on in the sequence. Then she decided that her sacrament cup was a "cupcake".
Wednesday we went on a hike in the mountains. See other post. We will definitely go back some day.
Thursday it was my turn to lead our preschool. So we read Leaf Man and made our own leaf people and animals. We woke up around 5:45 so we could take Trent to work. After taking him to work we grabbed some leaves to play with in a small group. It was sprinkling and snowing as I collected the leaves and we had to towel dry some of them so it wasn't mush by the time it reached the preschool/play group. Dani was excited to hear that it was snowing because she wanted to make a snow man, but it didn't stick so that will have to wait until later. By the time we finally made it to the play group, Dani was exhausted and fussy. She did not want to leave me to see the other groups and she was not interested in making any leaf people. The activity went as well as could be expected with well over 20 kids present of varying age levels. Luckily the parents stay and help.
Friday we watched Curious George and ate popcorn. Dani enjoyed watching George play peekaboo. She talked about the monkey all and popcorn all night.
Yesterday I went to a "Super Saturday" activity put on by another ward's Relief Society. Our Ward was invited since our primaries meet together and we have lots of activities together. A week earlier I took Dani over to a home of someone who was organizing the activities to give her money for the craft activity I wanted to do. I told Dani that I was going to make a caterpillar puppet for the "Very Hungry Caterpillar". She was confused when we left her home that I didn't bring any caterpillars with me but I told her that I would make it later.
When I returned home, I asked her if she remembered why we went to the lady's house to give her money. She responded "pillar". Last night I finished gluing on the final pieces and decorating the butterfly. This is what we now have . . .
Dani absolutely LOVES this set and acting it out with the caterpillar eating through each of the foods. It will make it easier when she is able to put it on her own arm, but for now it's at least very entertaining on Mom's arm.
The person who designed the pattern for this puppet set is in my Ward, but she asked that we not use the pattern for profit. She has her own etsy page and sells these herself. Honestly, it's too much work for me to do this for profit, but it would be fun for a Christmas gift! The butterfly was not exactly patterned after hers. I designed the decorations on the butterfly's wings myself. I also made a few minor changes to the watermelon, strawberry, and salami.
I think it turned out quite cute. It has given me some ideas for Christmas presents.
Since it was freezing cold and snowing all day yesterday (thankfully still not sticking much), we went to the library to spend a little time outside of our condo. Dani brought home three Clifford books to read and I brought home a few for me. I love having a library close by.
Fall Leaves Hike Take 2
Wednesday we decided to explore the area a bit more to find good hiking trails for Fall colors. On the way to a park we drove by a few weeks ago, we missed one of the turn offs and took the next available turn. We ended up visiting a different park on the other side of the mountain range that had some scenic views of downtown.
Unfortunately, our camera battery died shortly after arriving at this park. We did get a few additional pictures on Trent's phone which I will have to upload later. This park is now one of my favorite places to take pictures. I hope to return later for family photos. The ~1 hr long drive is still worth it.
This park mostly had evergreen trees. So we collected a few pinecones for our preschool craft and enjoyed the views. Dani walked around and collected a handful of little rocks. I'm not sure why she found them special, they just looked like gravel to me, but she would periodically have to stop to pick up some special rocks to add to her handful.
There were a lot of interesting large rock formations all over. Dani enjoyed climbing on them and playing with the pine needles on them. 
We went on a short hike just to see what this trail looked like. It didn't have the fall leaves we were looking for so we eventually turned around, but it looks like it will be a fun trail to try in the future.
Since it was likely to snow the next day, and we might miss our chance of seeing Fall leaves, we continued on and found our way back to the park we originally were hoping to reach. The light was perfect and made the trees look like they were glowing and the sunrays were gorgeous.
Dani enjoyed running through the "tunnel" of trees. 
The trees next to the stream were quite pretty. 
There were a lot of interesting large rock formations all over. Dani enjoyed climbing on them and playing with the pine needles on them. We went on a short hike just to see what this trail looked like. It didn't have the fall leaves we were looking for so we eventually turned around, but it looks like it will be a fun trail to try in the future.
Since it was likely to snow the next day, and we might miss our chance of seeing Fall leaves, we continued on and found our way back to the park we originally were hoping to reach. The light was perfect and made the trees look like they were glowing and the sunrays were gorgeous.Dani enjoyed running through the "tunnel" of trees. 
The trees next to the stream were quite pretty. Unfortunately, our camera battery died shortly after arriving at this park. We did get a few additional pictures on Trent's phone which I will have to upload later. This park is now one of my favorite places to take pictures. I hope to return later for family photos. The ~1 hr long drive is still worth it.
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